And so part 2 of this week continues onwards as I head back home to the country. This would be my first time home when there was close to no moon, I had a tripod and I had brought my UWA lens. A perfect opportunity for some astro photography. I have tried to do some in the past but I haven’t had much success. I think that I have finally read enough and practised to get what I considered a semi-decent shot.

This was the image from that session at night that I felt turned out best, I just love that constellation of stars

Another thing I’ve been wanting to do is get up BEFORE the sun rises and try some shots. So up I got in -2.5 degrees to see if I could capture the morning fog. Unfortunately I didn’t end up getting that many good photos.

One wouldn’t think that you normally would use a telephoto for landscape shooting but it certainly has it’s uses.

Well, after a massive break away from my camera, I have had to break this week up into parts because I just took too many photos this week and despite having culled quite a few down, there’s a few different photographic expeditions I wanted to highlight. This week was a culmination of many factors: exams finalising, purchase of a grad ND kit and a fair chunk of travel out of the city.

First off, I headed out to the Blue Mountains. Wentworth Falls to be precise. This is my first time that I got to properly test out my 70-200 2.8L since I got it a month or so ago. I also took my UWA along since I knew that there would be quite a few good landscape opportunities. Wentworth Falls was beyond anything that I had imagined.

From the car park, you walk down to Fletcher’s Lookout. See the tiny little bit of water far left, yep, you can see how far I have to climb down (and back up again – that was the worst). The view halfway down. You can see my lens got water all over the frontOne of the many minor waterfalls that all feed into…… the main attraction! Wentworth Falls. It was here that I got drenched and had to keep continually wiping my lens free of spray

Regardless, it was certainly worth the trek down (and up again). I would recommend anyone do it.

I also wandered along the Charles Darwin Walk and here is where you would walk if you wanted to see a tonne of birdlife.

So it’s week one of exams, haven’t really left the house except for the occaisional shift at work. I did stop by this amazing patisserie on a school visit to Merrylands. I do enjoy the VSCO filters in the new app.

Assessments all over! First proper time I got to actually go out and shoot with the X-E1 and 35mm just as a photo project before the exam cramming starts. Headed over to Vivid on the second last day to listen to James Nachtwey talk as well as look at all the pretty lights. Ridiculous amount of people around though.

It’s James Nachtwey!Like I was saying before, the VSCO filters are really niceSydney SunsetFamily outingThey moved the position of the projector this year. I quite liked it

Oh, and did I mention I went to see His Holiness the Dalai Lama? Well, I did.

Took a break from assessments and went to the PhotoSoc Tritone exhibition. My 35mm 1.4 arrived but I was at uni and wasn’t able to pick it up so the kit had to do. Unfortunately the variable aperture wasn’t that amazing in the dark and I can certainly see what people say when the criticise the autofocus on the X-series cameras (even with the latest firmware).

Jazzy – the film simulation modes on this camera are amazing. OOC JPEG

Unfortunately my battery died soon after. Gotta get used to the fact that mirrorless cameras just don’t go as long as my DSLR.

After having ordered a Fuji X-E1 months ago, it finally arrived! What made it worse was that the lens that I originally wanted (the 35mm 1.4) was no longer in stock so I had to opt for the 18-55 instead. While not a bad lens, I will have to source the prime from somewhere as it is much smaller and I like the equivalent focal length.

Had a few presentations and essays due this week and I am still catching up from my roadtrip so I haven’t had much time to take this camera out.

So as part of my job, I sometimes have to travel around NSW. Why not do some touristy things along the way then?

First stop was Forbes before heading onto Dubbo via Parkes with a quick detour to check out “The Dish”

Parkes Radio Telescope

After Dubbo we headed over to Bathurst via Mudgee and had a bit of a pit stop at Lawson Park

Amazing colours in autumn out in the country

Arriving in Bathurst after a long day of work, I kept on going studying for my upcoming exam.

I just wanted to say that I was “working from my hotel room”

So I feel this blog has turned less into “show my photographs” and more into “this is what is happening in my life and here are some photos”. But once I get this next assessment period out of the way, there will be more photo photos!